I made a major error when I decided to bring my bike into this god awful shop. I am all about shopping locally, but this place made me think twice about giving places like this a chance.
After buying a bike at a police auction, I needed to bring it in for some work. On the way home, we swung into our neighborhood bike shop, Nokomis Cycle. Big mistake. At first all seemed to be going well. The guy checked it out and said he'd give me a call once he had a chance to look at it. 5 days pass with no call, so despite the fact that he told me NOT to call him, I did. I inquired about whether or not he'd had a chance to look at my bike. Response: "Nope." "Okay," I said, "then I'm going to come pick it up and bring it somewhere else," hoping that this would provide him with an opportunity to offer to take a look at it in the next couple days or at the very least, give me a time line. Nothing.
Several hours later, I go in to pick it up. When he finally stops ignoring me, I tell him who I am and what I'm there for. Once again, an opportunity to offer an apology or to say that he did, in fact, look at it in the interim. Nothing. Instead, the guy hands me an estimate. "I looked at it yesterday," he says, "and it's all ready to go." Problem? Not only did he not tell me this when I called, but he'd gone ahead and done the work without asking! Second problem? It's not my bike.
Instead of the old Schwinn World I'd brought in, he rolls out a fairly new Raleigh. When I tell the prick this is not, in fact, my bike, he continues to tell me it is. Repeatedly. Now I know what bike I brought in and he's acting like I'm some kind of crackpot for not knowing my own gd bike! Finally, he goes to the back, scratching his head, moves a bunch of bikes around and goes to the basement, where, lo and behold, he finds my bike! "Did you have a chance to look at this bike?" I ask. "Nope." And that's it. No apologies, no nothing.
This arrogant a-hole is one of the reason bike shops get a bad name. I would never in a million years go back to Nokomis Cycle and would recommend anyone else who is thinking about it go elsewhere. Customer service is what keeps people coming back to stores; this guy's dim sense of what that means deserves an F in the customer service department. I'll be going to the Hub in the future. read more
